Of Moon and Boats

6. Mona Lisa's smirk

The world was about to change for the better, the world was about to change for the worse. The moon and the boat were trying hard, they were going to continue to do so for as long as possible and -most certainly a big plus- they were not faking it. Things were becoming smoother and ever-less problematic. The future appeared increasingly positive and they both attempted to not forget the obstacles they had succeeded in overcoming together, up to that point. That led them to slowly shift their focus towards what being together could mean on a long-term basis, what they would do, how they would do it. They had in effect started making the transition from the conceptual to the actual.

An unfortunate side effect of observing something is that observing frequently results in altering. The mere fact of looking at something often redefines and occasionally changes dramatically the object of the observation. They both looked ahead at their future and they both ended-up changing their future simply by looking at it. What was going on between them began seeming like a forced effort, a thing which required countless trials and errors and in any case, a thing which no longer came naturally to them. It'd be too easy to say that gone were the days when they felt purely compelled to be with each other. Not only would it be easy, it would actually be factually inaccurate. Still, they were both very much committed to the idea of staying together. Given though that both of them were exceptionally inquisitive, both felt very quickly a sharp and painful degree of discomfort. They started worrying and they started getting worried.

Worries or not, they kept at it. They persevered and they remained focused on what mattered to them most. Despite their undoubtedly sincere efforts, soon enough came the inevitable metamorphosis. From moon and boat, they were slowly but surely turning into two parallel lines. Two parallel lines of the same length, the same direction, the same starting point, the same ending point, but with now a clearly defined gap between them. An empty space which risked becoming an unbridgeable void. They started looking at the future and by doing so they ended-up changing their future. They realized they'd changed their future, tried to stay close and by doing so they only achieved to create a well-defined distance between them. Their efforts seemed to always backfire.

These were not usual circumstances, there was no room for manoeuvre and there was no time. Commitment, and a very strong one at that, had to prevail for both of them. The doubt and uncertainty which may be of considerable assistance in times of emergency, made things worse in their case. The moon, ready to take things as they came, showed an ever-increasing deal of pragmatism, a characteristic based on her considerably greater amount of experience. The lack of imagination in her thinking, her choice to abandon common dreams and her wish to return back to reality though, was a smack in the boat's face. He opted to continue persisting in his never-ending search for exclusively things which were truly exceptional. The boat remained resolute in his denial of reality and his merrily inappropriate blind-hope in things that had a bad habit of never coming true.